There is no one more inclined and knowledgeable on where company profits are going than employees of the corporation. These “insiders” are having a bearish look on the stock market. In the past three decades there have been only 2 times such pessimism occurred:

• Beginning of 2007
• Beginning of 2011

Are you asking what is so special about these years? 2007 is obvious because it was the start of the mortgage crisis with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. 2008 was the year of catastrophe with corporations pocketing “easy money” from TARP. This was the caffeine rush of Bush’ spending spree since 9/11. And we are still in the spiral of overspending 7 years later with Obama in office. In 2011, this is before the 20 percent or more decline in stock values. After the major decline, stocks went riding a huge tidal wave of increased stock prices.

When stock market goes down, we all know we should head to Treasuries. But, what about investing in bullion and paper gold? Goldman Sachs stated that gold is expected to be around $ 1,050 an ounce by end of the year. This is over $ 150 below the cost of mining the shiny metal. Why should we dig it when it is costing us more than its market worth?

Everyday ordinary citizens are up for a big surprise when Goldman Sachs, Societe General, and other investment banks force the price of gold to go down. Then the little people will be selling their gold and common stocks because both are heading down. This is not intellect; it is just plain fear. emotions is how you lose money on Wall Street. believe me, it has happened to me a few times in derivatives trading. When you get excitement and emotional, SIT ON YOUR HANDS!

How to make money in the bear market?  Invest on the downtrend, instead of your usual looking at the uptrend. There are not just bulls; there are also bears. Both make money while the pigs get slaughtered and the sheep get fleeced. Stop following everyone like a sheep and start doing your homework. Everything in life takes hard work to make it successful. Keep learning and asking questions.

 

To Your Health…

To your Wealth…

To Your Wisdom.

 

Washington DC politicians have planted a ticking bomb ready to implode the US economy one day. They are not a bunch of lawyers; they are all farmers. They have sowed the fields of economic destruction. Spring is coming in another 30 days. We shall see economic turmoil bloom with the crocuses and daffodils. Unlike the carrots and tomatoes grown in California, there will not be a sweet taste to the coming apocalypse from kicking the can down the road for the past 50 years. The Federal Reserve graph above can explain how much the US national debt went into 4th gear going 85 miles per hour. During the height of the Cold War in the 60′s and 70′s, our debt limits were very reasonable. Do not get me wrong; I am not anti-debt. Debt is good for raising funds for building new schools, expanding highways, and mass transit finances. Debt is like a one pound bag of M and M’s: you take a handful and they taste good; you take the whole bag and you get a stomach ache. The same going with printed excess money; it gives severe aches and pains. Look at how debt now dominates the entire world still today. The BIG FOUR economic powers (China, Japan, European Union, and US) of the world all are in downward spiral direction thanks to massive debt:

• The U.S. requires perpetual debt-ceiling hikes instead of balancing the budget

• The euro zone remains exposed to a banking system sinking like the Titanic on its own sovereign debt

• Japan is doing everything possible to have debt twice its national GDP

• China can no longer grow sufficiently without manipulating its debt overload

That’s just the big four. And we’ve seen recently how these threats can manifest themselves in emerging market turmoil. Turkish Lira and Argentina Peso are great examples of emerging market turmoils because of the BIG FOUR not handling their own economic troubles. If the intentions of DC is to weaken the emerging markets, then they are doing a great job. Wall Street Fat Wallets are always up for taking control of all economic powers in the rigged Wall Street investment industry. One does not need all this economic information that sounds Greek to the average person. In plain English, we just need to look at the national confidence of the population. Where do we go for such information. We go to Christmas shopping season. Almost every retailer was lacking profits behind Wall Street’s expectations. JCPenney’s and Macy’s were a shocker to many. Big name retailers are following Border’s and Nobody Beats The Wiz in becoming defunct retailers with lots of debt. If consumers in most OECD member countries have no confidence, then what does this tell your average American, Canadian, and European? Do you feel that we are succeeding our goals? Do you have the used car salesman smile even though we are shrinking our economies? The demand for physical, not paper, gold today really shows the strong beliefs that people really have in their economies and governments. What is the solution? Me personally, I am buying one ounce physical silver. I truly am a fanatic of Perth Mint Certificate Program. Unless you are an Aussie citizen, there is no other program for investing and storing physical precious metals. Many people say go and buy gold. This is great advice. Yet, I personally prefer investing in silver because:

• US Government had no confiscation on silver in 1933
• About $ 20 an ounce makes it easy for purchases while gold is $ 1,400 an ounce
• Recognizable by anyone and everyone
• Easy to invest and buy from any bullion dealer

It is up to you for preparations for the upcoming economic turmoil for 6 billion people one day. To Your Health… To Your Wealth… To Your Wisdom.

Today’s economy after the Mortgage Crisis in 2008 is what makes most Americans fear investing. Because of such fear, the everyday American is scared about another crisis happening any day now. This fear is what makes most people stay in debt. This debt is what takes our hope of the future away from us. Well, this is going to change after learning how to invest for the future.

Best Investments For the Future

So many get a phone call from their stockbroker to buy a “hot stock”. They spend $ 10,000 for the stock suggestion. A week later it drops 20 % because poor quarterly profits. You just lost $ 2,000 in one week. Now you grow bitter and negative on investing in the stock market. Maybe you will never invest in it again because of this loss. This is why investing in one particular stock is very risky for any individual investor. So, what are we supposed to do to build money for our retirement and college education costs in the next decade?

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are mutual funds that invest in many corporations at once. For example, SPDR Financial ETF (XLF) invests in all banks from Wells Fargo to Goldman Sachs. Let us say that Goldman Sachs has a 10 % loss this quarter. You would lose a lot of your investment if invested all in Goldman Sachs. But, with an ETF you invest equally in all banks in the fund; not just one.
Hence, you still make a profit and get re-invested dividends from XLF fund.

How To Find The Best Long-Term Mutual and ETF Funds

First, get a financial advisor to help guide you through the purchasing of mutual funds. They show you 1 and 3 year returns on the mutual fund. You are interested in long term investing. hence, look at the past 5 years performance on the financial instrument. Let us say that you get 12 % from such an ETF. That is 12 % of you investment getting re-investing for next year.

The Cost For Such An Investment

You pay the financial advisor and his financial institution a management fee, usually 1-2 percent. Plus, we have to include inflation in the cost. Inflation is at most 2 % yearly. Thus, we have an expense of 4 percent of our returns. We get 8 % profit on our mutual fund with our advisor. Does that sound better than getting 0.05 % from your bank for leaving the cash in a savings account?

Gateway To Retiring Wealthy

Now we see how Wall Street can make up rich in the long-run. We have learned that there is no Get Rich Quick ways to wealth. Slow and steady with re-investing dividends is the key to wealth and prosperity. With your investments being watched by a financial professional and financial analysts control the mutual fund investments (since they need profits to exist) you will always make money in the long run. It is up to you to put your foot down and make your savings work for you. In the future, you will have a large amount of money for retirement and other future expenses.

Source: Conde Nast

Terrance is going to purchase a new beach summer home in Isle of Wight in England. He needs to get 25,000 British pounds as a down payment on his dream beach home for the summer. So, he goes over to HSBC to take the money out of his trust account. The teller tells him, “I am sorry to inform you that we are not allowed to give you more than 10,000 pounds at a time.” Terence is shocked and amazed that there are capital controls on his British trust account. He gets out 10,000 pounds and makes an appointment with his HSBC financial adviser for Monday morning to discuss the rest of the money needed. The next week, he decided to take the train down to Andorra to open a new trust account outside of British jurisdiction. Instead of buying his dream beach house in Isle of Wight, he purchase a log cabin in the mountains.

UK Government is pushing for Cyprus-style deposit confiscation. Americans keep on telling me the old adage: “It Can NEVER Happen here.” Well, it has already happened and barely made it into the media. For ones who have observed JP Morgan Chase Restricting business account to maximum of $ 50,000. Today it is $ 50,000. Next month it could very easily be $ 1,000… and it could be done overnight without any notice.

Terrance was very wise on his financial transaction. He got his money out of a country that has capital controls on how much a depositor is allowed to use him own money for his own desires and needs. HSBC has such a capital control today. I personally would not advise anyone to open a trust account in any jurisdiction that has capital controls on its customers. In the European Union, there exist very few jurisdiction to have your money, gold, and real estate in safe keeping.

While you can still open offshore accounts like all the Mitt Romneys today, it is best to sit down with a lawyer and discuss your options before HSBC “LEGALIZED ACTIONS” come across the Atlantic to Canada and America. There is only one person looking out for you and your family. It is up to you to make sure you have savings and precious metal coins in offshore accounts and safe deposit boxes for your ‘insurance’ of what the future may hold. You have insurance for when you pass away; why not have insurance for when you are alive also?

 

To Your Health… To Your Wealth… To Your Wisdom

Source: LA Times

Rain, rain go away; come again another day. Fond memories of childhood that brings back. I always wanted the rain to go away somewhere else so I can play kickball or softball. Well, today in California, I think many people have chanted that song a little too much for the New Year of 2014. While New York and Chicago are getting record number snow storms and single digit temperatures, California is is dying of thirst.

Most people escape the freezing cold winter and stay in warmer climates for winter in Southern California and The Sun Belt. Would you believe that 2013-14 is California’s worst drought in history. Almost three quarters of the state is in severe water shortage. This has minimally made it into the national news in America. Here in New York area, we all think that everyone is in blizzard conditions from the snow we got this year. California’s Governor Brown finally declared national emergency for the severe drought.

So, how does any of this affect us in the Northeast or Chicago area? Researchers claim the there is only enough water for a 20 year supply. California has one of the largest agricultural markets in America, according to California’s Department of Agriculture. Go any supermarket or fruit stand in your community. You will be amazed that California has a huge chunk of the market in carrots, cattle, strawberries, grapes, wine, almonds, milk, and cheese. With a life expectancy of another 20 years feeding your family, food prices only go in one direction: Up and up MORE.

The population of California is roughly 40 million people. There surely will not be enough water for everyone in the next 20 years. The Pin Flat Reservoir turns Fresno Reservoir into a puddle.  The following on California’s farming market is from City-Data.com:

The state produces 99 percent of the artichokes grown in the US, 44 percent of asparagus, a fifth of cabbage, two-thirds of carrots, half of bell peppers, 89 percent of cauliflower, 94 percent of broccoli, and 95 percent of celery. Leafy greens? California’s got the market cornered: 90 percent of the leaf lettuce we consume, along with and 83 percent of Romaine lettuce and 83 percent of fresh spinach, come from the big state on the left side of the map. Cali also cranks a third of total fresh tomatoes consumed in the U.S.—and 95 percent of ones destined for cans and other processing purposes.

How will your life change from this natural disaster?

What do you see as a solution?

Where are we headed for the future?

 

 To Health… To Wealth… To Prosperity

 

As always, please tell us what you think in the comments below…